I mean, who had the time, boredom, or lack of a life to get involved in one of these games where you played a character that was a complete fabrication? But he insisted, I had always been a writer and adored the art with a passion, so I finally gave in to him and figured that I would give it a try. So, I created a character from the current screen name that i had.

I went into one of the role play chats and began to play. I watched the
actions of others and eventually picked up on the game very easily, finding
it much more amusing than I had originally anticipated.

After a few nights of this, I met some other role players and our characters began nightly interaction. It became so much fun, and a major source of stress relief for
me. It was as if I was writing a novella, and every night I was adding a
little onto the chapters of my character's life. I found after a while that I
grew picky and would only role play with the talented writers, and my
character was always very beloved among all of the players, as was I ooc (out
of character). I got to know many people, very interesting people, I would
never have gotten to know any other way.

One evening as I role played in my usual room, with my usual group of
people, my character was approached by another. This was not unusual for me,
I was used to my character being often hit on by others. but this character
was very different than the others I was accustomed to playing with. He
played a character that was not his own original creation, but the character
the vampire lestat from the vampire chronicles novels by anne rice. I had
always adored the books and found the character Lestat very intriguing. Well,
this role player was by far the most talented I had ever encountered. He was
eloquent, descriptive, and basically the best I had ever seen. He tried to
flirt with my character and all that, but my character basically rebuffed
him. I greatly enjoyed angering his character by this rejection. After that
evening I should have just forgotten about the player as I usually did with
players that were not in my usual group, but i could not forget his talent.
Talent like his was so rare in RPing. But I expected not to talk to him
again, and that was about it. Within a few days I had forgotten his screen
name.

Needless to say I was greatly surprised when after about a week, I received
an instant message from the Lestat character, for IM RPing. I was very
pleased by this surprise and the two of us began to RP in IMs and in Private
rooms on a regular basis, almost nightly. It was the most fun I had ever had
in role playing because of the game of cat and mouse our characters played.
With him it was definitely like writing a novel.

After talking in RP he introduced himself out of character to me. He told
me his name was Chris and that he just recently turned 18 years old. This was
cool, because I had not too long prior turned 16, so the age difference was
not a factor between us. We talked a while that night, about our lives,
hobbies, and interests, and I found I was extremely intrigued by the boy
behind the character, even more so then I had been with the character itself.

We talked for about four months out of character and I found he was an
absolutely wonderful person. He was so smart, a talented writer, and very
sincere. We exchanged pictures both via snail mail and e mail. I gasped when
I saw his pictures. He sent me his senior pictures and a few with his friends
and he was just really gorgeous. He seemed to have been quite taken with my
pictures as well and the two of us elaborated on that for a while. But looks
were not a big deal for us at all.

Then one evening, after about four and a half months of talking, Chris
told me that he had fallen in love with me. He was very shy about telling me
this and I could tell that he was scared my reaction would contradict his
confession. But I knew in my heart that I had fallen in love with him as
well. The two of us did not live too far from one another, but far enough to
warrant waiting a while before we met.

We decided that he would come and spend Christmas with me and my family and
that is still the plan. We have everything set up for that trip, and I will
be spending next summer with him in his home in Chicago. Both of us will also
be attending college very near to one another and we look forward to seeing
each other very often then. I move out of my parents home and into college in
less than a year, and I am now 17 years old.

I know in my heart and soul that Chris is my soulmate. No one has ever
reached out and touched me and my entire being as he has done for so long,
and his feelings for me are mutual. There are not words that can express what
I feel for him and when we talk, when i receive a letter from him, or a call,
or a gift through the mail....every time I talk to him I fall more and more
in love and I cannot wait until the day I can hold him in my arms. I never
imagined role playing would become so serious for me, as it has now. Not the
act of role playing, but the fact that I met the most wonderful man I could
find through the game. If you haven't tried something new like role playing,
don't knock it until you try it, because you never know what will happen.

The net is a big world and if you really want to find one's talent, that is a
wonderful way to do so. But be warned, your emotions may lead you deeper into
the game than you thought they would :)

"Madison"